All things Osprey (1 Viewer)

[s. james]

Has anybody ever seen an osprey perform a barrel-roll in flight? That is a full 360 degree sideways flip onto its back and round.

On 4th August 2009 I saw an osprey do this at Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland. (Lough Neagh has no breeding ospreys but birds pass through on migration increasingly regularly). This bird had just hovered, caught a fish and spent about ten minutes eating it. It then rose and soared in what immediately looked like a more leisurely fashion. Watching through the scope I saw it give brief chase to a heron before circling a bit more. Then when it was almost directly opposite me, it excecuted the 360 degree barrel-roll, soared a bit more then came down to its previous perch. It was a remarkable sight!

The bird showed other interesting behaviours on subsequent days including repeatedly skimming its talons in the water after eating as if to clean them and carrying half-eaten fish and sticks about in flight. The osprey was present for about a month with the last record I've heard about coming on 2nd September. It may have been an immature bird (the upper body feathers looked very mottled) but I'm not 100% certain on that.

Interested as I am in animal and especially avian play I suspect this aerial manouvre was done simply for enjoyment. A number of factors would suggest this. However there are other plausible explanations- perhaps it was display, sort of claiming the fishing grounds for itself.

Anyway anybody seen similar behaviour? Surely with the well observed ospreys at numerous nesting sites somebody has seen this sort of thing before? I could find nothing in BWPi but I'm not saying it's not in there cos it's sometimes difficult to read and I might have missed a bit.

 

[s. james]

OK was quite a long post there and maybe nobody could be bothered reading it!

Basically I saw an osprey do a 360 degree barrel-roll in flight. It was most likely an immature bird and was at a stop-off point on migration (Lough Neagh). It wasn't hunting (had just caught and eaten a fish) and there were no other ospreys around.

Anybody seen similar behaviour?

 

[Janieb]

I apologise in advance if this is a simple question. I have seen on several websites that an Osprey is still present in Hertfordshire. Will this bird now stay for the winter and is it an unusual situation?

 

[birdboybowley]

Osprey still present today in Herts....is this the latest UK record??

 

[JoanT]

Osprey still present today in Herts....is this the latest UK record??

I posed this very question on the local e-mail group and was informed that there was an Osprey at Gatton Park Surrey that stayed until Dec 12th 1979.

To be completely correct this bird is in Herts and Bucks as the Chess river is the boundary or close to boundary in many places that the Osprey visits. It is probably entering LNHS territory as well but so far this is only hearsay from locals and a lot of that area is a private so not easy to access.

Not always easy to catch up with as it moves up and down the valley.

It is a darvic ringed juvenile and I believe exact ringing details are still awaited.


Joan

 

[birdboybowley]

Wow, Dec 12th...cheers for that Joan

 

[OSPREYALAN]

I believe the osprey is Blue MB and it is a Scottish bird.

 

[MontanaOspreyCam]

Can I add to your list of osprey sites?? We just installed a camera on an Osprey Nest in Montana for a non-profit organization. Right now all the site does is allow you to move the camera and zoom in and such....but soon we will be adding content (photos, archived video clips from the nest, classroom lessons and general osprey information).

You can control the camera at www.montanaospreycam.com

Please come visit us! When you click on a Google ad on the right hand side, it helps pay for the camera and tagging the chicks....it is the only way for us to fund the project at this point!

Thanks in advance!!

 

[lashinala]

Osprey question:
I've found a plethora of osprey feathers below an osprey nest (approx 100, all very long). Is this a sign of a recently killed osprey, or could there be another explanation?

 

[s. james]

Osprey still present today in Herts....is this the latest UK record??

I posed this very question on the local e-mail group and was informed that there was an Osprey at Gatton Park Surrey that stayed until Dec 12th 1979.

To be completely correct this bird is in Herts and Bucks as the Chess river is the boundary or close to boundary in many places that the Osprey visits. It is probably entering LNHS territory as well but so far this is only hearsay from locals and a lot of that area is a private so not easy to access.

Not always easy to catch up with as it moves up and down the valley.

It is a darvic ringed juvenile and I believe exact ringing details are still awaited.


Joan

Osprey was at Oxford Island, north Armagh there on Sat 2nd Oct. It (or a number of birds) have been seen sporadically for the past few months.

Thought it was quite a late record but seemingly not too unusual. Aside from the late December record, are there any records of ospreys actually overwintering in the UK?

 

[Tiger_mz]

Osprey was at Oxford Island, north Armagh there on Sat 2nd Oct. It (or a number of birds) have been seen sporadically for the past few months.

Thought it was quite a late record but seemingly not too unusual. Aside from the late December record, are there any records of ospreys actually overwintering in the UK?

I think that December 12th is a latest for the UK. I am not aware of any ospreys overwintering in Britain. However I think there may have been ones overwinter in Brittany. Of course we know ospreys overwinter in Spain and Portugal. The best known of these is S06 who is now 19 years old. See http://www.ospreys.org.uk/satresultsS06.html

 

[s. james]

I think that December 12th is a latest for the UK. I am not aware of any ospreys overwintering in Britain. However I think there may have been ones overwinter in Brittany. Of course we know ospreys overwinter in Spain and Portugal. The best known of these is S06 who is now 19 years old. See http://www.ospreys.org.uk/satresultsS06.html

Thanks and interesting website. Maybe with climate change they'll overwinter in the near future. I'm still hoping for a few breeding pairs in NI, they're common enough on migration.

 

[shark attack]

you know exuse me if I am wrong...but was told back in June / July time that 3 Ospreys had been taking fish from sweethope lough in Northumberland, A male female & a juvenile.....these were not from Kielder & could not have been "Passing Birds " they actually spent around about a month taking fish every day. Does this mean we have another pair nesting in Northumberland.........or how else do we explain a family of Osprey's all lunching aroung Northumberland at that time....?????????????

 

[Tiger_mz]

Thanks and interesting website. Maybe with climate change they'll overwinter in the near future. I'm still hoping for a few breeding pairs in NI, they're common enough on migration.

Oh that would be good since I grew up in Northern Ireland and know the place well. One of the red ringed birds released at Rutland in 1996 was thought to have spent a summer in Northern Ieland at that small lough just north of Lough Neagh....is it Lough Begg?

I cannot put my hand on the reference just now.

 

[Tiger_mz]

you know exuse me if I am wrong...but was told back in June / July time that 3 Ospreys had been taking fish from sweethope lough in Northumberland, A male female & a juvenile.....these were not from Kielder & could not have been "Passing Birds " they actually spent around about a month taking fish every day. Does this mean we have another pair nesting in Northumberland.........or how else do we explain a family of Osprey's all lunching aroung Northumberland at that time....?????????????

Draw you own conclusions!

 

[s. james]

Oh that would be good since I grew up in Northern Ireland and know the place well. One of the red ringed birds released at Rutland in 1996 was thought to have spent a summer in Northern Ieland at that small lough just north of Lough Neagh....is it Lough Begg?

I cannot put my hand on the reference just now.

Yep Lough Beg, it's actually quite a big lake, just small in comparison to Lough Neagh! It sometimes has two or three ospreys hanging around in the summer.

There's some talk of putting up nesting platforms around the Lough Neagh area but not much action. Wildfowling might anyway mean there's too much disturbance for a pair to breed.

 

[John Dracon]

Stephen - I thought I would share some information about breeding osprey and disturbance as we know it. I use to think that man caused noise and cars and trucks in close proximity to nests would inhibit breeding. Here in Montana that doesn't seem to matter much. Along many man made lakes osprey are thriving in areas along busy highways. Tall posts with platforms on top as close to 100 feet from highways with traffic constantly coming and going host nests that anually raise a brood. Osprey will nest close to busy marinas, much to the delight of boaters who watch them coming and going. The solitary nests do exist on cottonwood bottoms along rivers, but osprey are highly adaptable creatures if they have fish to catch, materials to build nests, and a place to secure their nests whether it be natural or artificial. I've seen them thrive in absolute wilderness and in metropolitan areas and everywhere else in between. Ironically, it is often the biologists doing their research who really disturb osprey, not cars and hikers. John

 

[s. james]

Stephen - I thought I would share some information about breeding osprey and disturbance as we know it. I use to think that man caused noise and cars and trucks in close proximity to nests would inhibit breeding. Here in Montana that doesn't seem to matter much. Along many man made lakes osprey are thriving in areas along busy highways. Tall posts with platforms on top as close to 100 feet from highways with traffic constantly coming and going host nests that anually raise a brood. Osprey will nest close to busy marinas, much to the delight of boaters who watch them coming and going. The solitary nests do exist on cottonwood bottoms along rivers, but osprey are highly adaptable creatures if they have fish to catch, materials to build nests, and a place to secure their nests whether it be natural or artificial. I've seen them thrive in absolute wilderness and in metropolitan areas and everywhere else in between. Ironically, it is often the biologists doing their research who really disturb osprey, not cars and hikers. John

Thanks John, good to know. Just heard some (more) talk today about osprey nesting posts possibly being erected at Lough Neagh so hopefully some action will eventually be taken!